


Fear & Delight

by Constance_Lirit



Series: Julia Smith [4]
Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Alcohol, Birthday, Citadel of Ricks, Female Character, Female original character - Freeform, Gen, House Party, Humour, OC, Original Character - Freeform, Rick and Morty - Freeform, Slice of Life, Work, block party, drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 03:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17841776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Constance_Lirit/pseuds/Constance_Lirit
Summary: Julia Smith (of dimension T-69b) is now living on the Citadel of Ricks with her family of Smiths. While Morty and Summer continue to attend school on the citadel she's however been left in limbo as an unofficial, unregistered Smith. That all changes, however, when she's finally giving a greencard to work. On top of that both Summer and Julia both finally turn 18 a few weeks apart.A slice of life on the Citadel of Ricks.





	1. Chapter 1

Laying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, Julia squinted and opened her eyes a few times, playing with the light streaming in through the garden door. Due to how the education system had been set up in the Citadel of Ricks she was not a student; on top of that she could not go out and find work either because her name was not on the government register, meaning no one was allowed to legally employ her. Frustrated Julia tilted her head to the side and stared at the television, she had already cleaned the house, put on the laundry and done the dishes – everything her father used to do before he got a job. It actually sucked to be so without purpose that Jerry contributed more than her. It had even gotten to the point that she was pretty sure Rick and Beth respected him more than her right now.

Hearing someone at the mailbox Julia got to her feet and headed to the front door, the metal post-flap twanging every time it was lifted up and mail was pushed through.  
“Ohh, mail’s here.” she gasped, rushing over and bundling up the letters into her hands. “Junk, junk, junk… Oooh, free scratch and sniff cologne.” she listed off, reading the small print. “Achieve the bachelor in you. For Ricks.” she uttered, scrapping away the thin layer of foil to sniff the scented panel. “Ooohh, mmm.” Julia hummed, realising it even came with a tiny plastic sample bottle. Certain she should get Rick to try it out when he was home Julia wandered into the garage and put Rick’s mail on his work desk, along with the cologne.

Seeing what else there was she stood by the kitchen table, her hand casually sorting each letter onto a particular pile depending on who it was for.  
“Dad, Mum… Morty, Morty… Mum.” she mumbled, mild curiosity coming over her when she found another free sample in the form of a coupon. “Hand in at Jerry and Jerry’s for your free shampoo tester kit.” she uttered, deciding this might just be the ticket she needed to get her out of the house for a little while.  
Since it had been a rather warm morning Julia decided to put on her denim short-shorts and her loose fitting tie-dyed summer shirt, of which hung off of her arms just below the shoulders and also stopped on the curve of her waist to cut across, revealing her navel. It was longer at the back than it was at the front and so covered her bum and stopped at the back of her knees. As per usual she wore her favourite black boots that went with just about everything she owned.

Locking the door behind herself Julia began to wander down the street, the sun beating down on her while a mild, pleasant breeze kept her cool. Now and again a Rick would stop to look at her from the open garage, her rainbow tie-dye shirt being pretty eye-catching in the otherwise empty streets. Ever since the Jerry convention incident she had become a little more infamous than before, it did not help that whenever Morty brought his friends over they would stare at her as if they had never seen a girl before.  
Actually, in some cases they would look at her the same way they eyed up a Jessica. She was pretty sure they had been telling their Ricks all about this strange, unfamiliar half-sister who lived on their street as well, and word of mouth travelled fast around here.

Finding the store shown on the back of the leaflet Julia wandered in and picked up the shampoo advertised on the coupon, her eyes glancing to the scratchcards behind the kiosk while the Jerry at the counter rung her up.  
“Hey, can I get a number one?” she asked, rummaging about in her pockets to find some loose change.  
“Have you got any ID?” he questioned, eyeing her up and down. Pulling out her wallet the teen handed him her ID and then stood there as he scrutinised the hell out of it, his eyes flicking up and down as he went from her photo to her face and back.

Eventually he handed it back to her, mostly because the Rick stood behind her had began leaning out to the side to look at him with an annoyed stare, his six-pack of beer clinking together as he put it on the counter once she had moved out of the way with her scratchcard and free bottle of shampoo. Stood there Julia used a penny to scratch away the panels.  
“Morty… Moooorty! … Whoohoo!...” she cheered, holding the cheap scratchcard up above her as she looked up at it. “Won back my money.” she added, going to the back of the line to give Jerry her card. “Gimmie another one.” she requested. “Rick, Rick… Rick.” she spoke, feeling rather chuffed.

Handing it over Jerry frowned, muttering something about never winning anything himself as he handed her a complimentary bottle of beer for getting three Ricks.  
“Shouldn’t you give me money?” she asked, looking at the luke-warm bottle sceptically.  
“You get a bottle of beer if you get three Doofus Ricks.” Jerry explained, whilst she just gave him an odd look but accepted her prize nonetheless.

Going outside Julia began to head home, however on the way back she past by a hobbo sitting propped up against the wall. Pouting she looked at her bottle of beer, and while she did not like encouraging a Rick’s drinking problem she did not particularly like beer either.  
“Hey...” she greeted him, his head tilting slightly as he gave her a scrutinising expression. The last few people to go by had said something to him, and she was certain it had not been entirely kind.  
“Wit?” the Rick questioned, whilst she continued to examine his scruffy demeanour. Was this how 

Ricks ended up when they did not have a family to go home to she wondered.  
“Here, I don’t really like beer.” Julia offered. “It’s not cold but it’s better than nothing.” she added, holding out the bottle. Moments later she flinched when Rick snatched it out of her grip, his hands fumbling to open the bottle and then push it to his lips to start downing the contents like a rabid animal. Not particularly surprised or impressed with his response Julia left the hobbo to his beverage and continued down the street. 

Getting home Julia put the free shampoo bottle down in her room and began to aimlessly wander about the house, with Tufts waking up to follow her around once she had brought her something to eat. Going into the garage the teen cringed at the stale-smell that permeated the air and opened up the door to let some fresh air in, how Rick could spend days at a time in here without the garage door lifted up was beyond her. A few hours later Morty and Summer had come home with their friends, which basically meant the house was littered with copies of her half-siblings.  
Julia only really acknowledged them, however, when she felt watched and lifted her head up to look at a couple of Mortys staring at her from the doorway. With Rick off out doing something she had decided to use the work space to make more costumes for Tufts.  
“Morty, they’re doing it again!” Julia called, causing them both to evacuate and go back to what they were supposed to be doing. “Creepy little shits.” she muttered, turning away to go back to sewing.

A few hours later there was a distinct rattle as Rick landed the cruiser, though he looked less than impressed to find Julia had usurped his castle throne, again.  
“What are you doing?” he questioned defensively, eyeballing the tiny white coat she was stitching up.  
“Avoiding Morty’s creepy little friends.” she answered, lifting up the coat to see where it needed more work done.  
“G-Go do that shit in your room.” he grumbled, spreading his once neat pile of mail across the work bench to eye it all up equally. Rolling her eyes Julia left him to it and went into her bedroom, her eyes catching sight of a Morty peering out from around a corner on her way back out. Giving him a weird glance she shut her bedroom door and headed towards the living room to watch some television, or at least see what the Summers’ were doing to entertain themselves.

All was particularly calm after that, or at least it was until there was a typical Morty scream and one of them came running into the living room.  
“What? What’s wrong!?” one Summer questioned, giving him a weird look as she sat up quickly.  
“Rick! Rick!” the brunet shouted, drawing the much older man from the garage to come see what the hell was happening now.  
“W-What is it?” he belched, watching as the Morty ran around the sofa with a six-legged alien chasing him.  
“What the fuck?” another Summer questioned, pulling her legs up onto the sofa to keep them away from the creature.  
“Oh my god, shoot it!” another squealed, and soon enough there was banging and crashing echoing throughout the house.  
Having been putting clean laundry away upstairs Julia was none the wiser as to what was going on, that was until she heard the shouting getting louder out in the hallway. Confused she watched as Tufts came hurtling into her parent’s bedroom and right towards her, the tiny deer scrambling to get behind her feet as a lazer shot part of the door off of its hinges, causing Julia to flinch and Tufts to sausage up in fear. Bounding into the room Rick almost shot Julia’s head clean to kingdom come but thankfully his thoughts were faster than his trigger finger and he stopped before he could do so.

Seeing the tiny alien cowering at Julia’s feet Rick aimed his gun.  
“Julia, spread your legs a little.” he stated, whereas she just pulled a face and continued to block his aim.  
“Rick, wait. Don’t shoot.” she begged, waiting for him to lower his gun. Once he did as he was told Julia bent down to pick Tufts up, who by now had gone back to pretending to be nothing more than a fluffy pillow. Stood there the teen explained the entire situation to Rick, which led to him being less than impressed.  
“So you’ve been hiding an alien in the house for the last three months?” he spat, while she was still yet to make eye-contact with him.  
“I couldn’t exactly set her free into the wild.” she argued weakly.  
“Y-Y-Yo-You don’t even know what that thing is!” he protested, trying to take it off of her. Turning away Julia curled in on herself slightly to protect Tufts.  
“She isn’t dangerous!” she snapped.  
“That thing might be dr-dr-drinking your blood while you slee-sleep for all you know!” Rick argued, drool oozing down his lip now.  
“Stop calling her a ‘thing’.” Julia huffed. “Her name’s Tufts.” she then added gently, petting her pet’s fur.  
“Fuck me, you named it?” he questioned, groping his forehead in disbelief.

Back and forth they argued for quite some time, in fact they bickered for so long that the Mortys and Summers’ got fed up and left them to it. Hearing the front door go the two of them stopped fighting momentarily, apparently Beth and Jerry were home. Being dragged downstairs Rick was quick to tell them about her pet, much to her displeasure. The tables turned, however, when they agreed to let her keep her pet when she argued she had no one else to talk to.  
Rick had other Ricks, Morty had other Mortys, excreta; so having Tufts around gave her companionship, especially when she could not even go out and work or go to school right now. Displeased Rick wandered off into the garage and shut the door, deciding to wash his hands of the entire situation. If Julia’s pet went mad and killed someone he would not get blamed for it.

In the living room that evening Julia had been putting little hats on Tufts, who looked completely liberated to finally be able to freely wander around without needing to hide every time they were not home alone. Putting a top hat on her head Julia took another photo of her.  
“Aww.” she cooed, giving her a treat for standing still long enough for her to capture the moment on her phone.  
“What are you doing?” Rick questioned, wandering in with his flask in his hand.  
“Playing with Tufts.” she answered, getting to her feet to go get something.  
Sitting down on the sofa Rick turned on the television, hoping to just kick back and relax. Lifting his liquor canister up to his mouth he tilted it back, the floor empty by his ankles, but when he lowered his beverage back down Tufts was stood at the bottom of his feet.  
“What?” he questioned, giving the small deer a suspicious look. Taking another swig he lowered his drink and found she was gone, his monobrow quirking slightly. Seconds later he jumped out of his skin when Tufts barked at him, his head twisting to the side to find she was now standing on the sofa cushions beside him.  
“Fuck!” he shouted at her, the deer staring at him quietly with two, lidless black eyes.

Confused Julia came back into the living room after hearing Tufts bark and Rick shout, her lone visible eye lolling between them quickly.  
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked.  
“Your f-f-fucking… pet!” Rick answered, tilting himself away from the deer and towards the armrest.  
“Aw, Tufts is only looking at you.” she assured him, starting to snap her fingers with one hand while placing the other on her hip. “Down, Tufts! Not on the furniture.” she told her off, her pet jumping down and coming over to her feet. Within seconds she was snorting and huffing, her head lowering and rising as she circled her owner’s feet. “Good giiiiirl.” she cooed, sitting down on the edge of the sofa to watch whatever was on for a bit. A few seconds later Tufts was back at Rick’s feet, her big black eyes boring into him. He really did not like her pet.

That next day Julia had been hoovering the hall, the plastic head banging on the garage door as she tried to get into the corners. The back of her hand sweeping away the sweat on her forehead once she was done.  
“I think it’s time for a well deserved treat.” she uttered, heading into the kitchen to make up some of her favourite pancakes. At her feet Tufts was honking and squeaking as she went out into the hall, her ears lolling about as she went to greet whoever had come home. Seeing one Rick she honked at him before turning on the spot to look at another Rick and honk a second time, on the third Rick, and third honk, her tail began to wag.  
“Whaat the fuck is that?” one Rick belched.  
“Julia’s pet.” Rick replied, wondering where she was exactly until the smell of pancakes hit his nostrils.

Heading into the kitchen, trying to avoid Tufts weaving a circuit around his feet, Rick trudged into the doorway and watched as the space-deer went right over to Julia to sniff her bare toes. Getting her toes licked Julia started to do a little dance.  
“Ah! Ew! Fuck! Tufts, stop it! I’m cooking!” she protested, taking her hands off of the frying pan before she tossed hot batter all over herself and her pet. “Little… shit.” she then mumbled, watching her go back over to Rick to sniff and lick his shoes instead. “Oh. You’re home.” Julia acknowledged, stilling when more Ricks stuck their heads in to have a look at her.  
“We’re going to be in the living room. Don’t bother us.” Rick warned her, whilst she simply rolled her eyes and went back to cooking.  
“Right, because I soooo wanted to sit and chill with a gang of seventy-year-old men bitching about the weather.” she sarcastically answered, starting to scoop her pancakes onto a plate on the counter top.

Flattening his features Rick bundled up the beer from the fridge into his arms and left without a word, seemingly in no mood to have another back and forth argument with Julia. At least not in front of his new friends. Bringing her pile of pancakes into the kitchen the teen sat down, her fingers twitching in a twinkling manner as she tried to decide what to put on them first.  
“Fuck those smell good.” she heard a Rick grumble as he wandered past, having just left the bathroom. Trying to put the fork into her mouth Julia paused when she heard another one muttering about wanting pancakes, her head tilting back slightly as her mouth closed and her lips flattened out.  
Getting up Julia wandered to her room, waiting for Tufts to come inside as well, and then shut her door.  
“My pancakes.” she grumbled defensively, sitting down at her father’s desk. Later Julia had been fiddling with her guitar when she heard shouting from out in the corridor.  
“Julia! J-Ju-Julia, where are you?!”she could hear Rick shouting. “Julia!” he continued calling.  
“Oh for… Study! I’m in the study!!” the brunette shouted back. “You wind-bag.” she then quietly insulted him as he opened the door and came inside, clearly wasted.

Stumbling slightly he began to lean against the door-frame, one eye blinking and opening before the other mimicked.  
“Rick, you’re drunk.” she commented, as if that fact really needed to be voiced.  
“Ju-Julia, I-I-I… I’m going out.” he informed her, whilst she just flattened her features further.  
“Should you really be going out like that?” she replied, seeing his equally drunk friends lumbering about behind him.  
“I’m fine! I just… Thought I’d tell you-” he began before letting out a massive belch.  
“Whatever, fine.” Julia sighed, not about to argue with him. “Just don’t take the cruiser.” she then requested, watching as he grumbled something about her not being the boss of him and opened up a portal to go through. Within seconds they were all gone, the portal closing over behind them.

In the living room later that night Julia had been flicking through Rick-related channels, wondering what exactly the citadel aired as entertainment.  
“Law and Morty… My name is Rick… Nevermind the Smiths, Third Rick from the Sun.” she murmured, leaning onto the palm of her hand, whilst pressing her elbow into the armrest. “Two and a Half Ricks.” she commented, grimacing when she saw they took the ‘half’ part completely seriously. Finding the news network Julia decided to watch that instead, her body laying sprawled out across the sofa as she stared off into space vacantly. After a short period of time, however, she grew fed-up and bored so decided to just go to bed instead.  
Somewhere into the little hours of the morning the teen could vaguely remember being woken up by Rick hovering over her, drunk, and then shifting closer to the wall to let him get in with her. His cold feet and icy hands causing her to protest for the shortest time before she let it go and cuddled up to him, giving him some of her excess body heat.

In the morning Julia woke up resting against the uncomfortably bony side of Rick, her forehead laying on his chest while he lay with his mouth hung open and an arm hooked around her waist. Anyone walking in right now would have definitely gotten the wrong idea, especially when his clothes were scattered all over the floor beside the bed. Julia just hoped he at least kept his boxers on this time. Slowly her eyes rolled up to Rick’s sleeping face at that thought.  
‘Did you even wear pants?’ she wondered dryly, pulling the covers further over them before she placed her hand just above his abdomen.  
Stroking his chest Julia closed her eyes and began to hum quietly to herself, no matter how angry he seemed to get when he woke up in her bed he would always do it again. All she could really do was savour the strangely comforting feeling of sharing a tiny bed with him before he erupted into shouting and profanity. Somehow it was always her fault he drunkenly decided to crawl into bed with her.

Breathing in the scent coming off of his chest Julia mumbled slightly, he really needed a shower after going out boozing all night. Taking in another breath she could faintly smell the scent of the cologne she had gotten in the mail still on his skin, the scent still as pleasant as when she first sniffed it. Laying like that for another hour Julia decided to get up, trying her best not to wake him up in the process. A simple task when he was in a drink related comatose. Heading into the kitchen the teen made herself breakfast and then cleaned up after herself, her feet carrying her to the front door when she heard the mail come rattling through the mailbox.  
“Junk…. Junk...” she mumbled as she shuffled through it, pausing when a much larger letter came through the mailbox.  
“M-Morty, hurry up!” she could hear the Mail-Rick telling off his assistant.

Giving the large brown envelope a strange look she picked it up to have a look, and upon turning it over she saw that it was addressed to her. In the corner was the Citadel of Ricks logo. Going into the dining room Julia tossed the other mail onto the kitchen table and began to open up the letter addressed to her. Pulling out the clean, crisp letters, she had a look. It was the document she had been waiting a near month to receive from the government, but upon closer inspection it seemed to be nothing more than a summoning visa. Alongside the document was a smaller letter, folded up neatly and pressed flat.  
Flapping it open Julia found that it was indeed a fancy, official summoning to the main centre for the Citadel of Ricks; they wished to ask her a couple of questions, give her a health check-up and do some necessary paperwork. Attached to the bottom with double-sided sticky tape, not so fancy, was a temporary railcard. Hearing something rattle inside the envelope she shook the contents out onto the table and found there was a laminated ID card with her details on it and a lanyard included.

Clipping them together she put the lanyard around her neck and stood there for a second just staring down at it. She felt so important and official with it around her neck, like a teacher or a bouncer in a club. Letting a tiny smile curl the edges of lips she then picked up the letter again to see the times and dates for when she needed to be there, her tiny smile vanishing to become dismay. She was supposed to have her interview today. Looking up at the clock her brow began to sweat. In an hour.  
“Riiiick!” she began shouting, stumbling into her room to grab her clothes. “Rick, wake up!” she shook him, his hand swinging up to shove at her face in annoyance as he protested the very idea of waking up. “Rick, the Citadel summoned me; I’ve an hour to get to the tower, I need you to drive me there- Or something!” she protested.  
“G-Get the train...” he grumbled, shooing her.  
“I don’t know where the station is!” she shot back, tugging on his arm.  
“G-Ge-Get Jerry to give you a ride.” he mumbled, pulling his arm out of her grip to roll over and face away from her.  
“He’s at work, we’re the only people home right now.” the brunette fumed.  
“Fuuuuckkkk.” Rick bemoaned, rolling onto his back with his face screwed up. “I’ll just make you a portal.” he muttered. “Just let me go back to sleep for a little longer.” he requested, her panicking features fading slightly.  
“You will?” she asked, while he just grumbled a ‘yes’ and pulled the covers over his face. “I… I’ll go shower then.” she informed him, rushing off with clean clothes to the bathroom.

Surprisingly he kept to his promise and within seconds she was in the main square of the Citadel with twenty minutes to spare. Quickly she then noted one thing in particular, the lack of variety in who was around. Every corner, window and space appeared to be filled with Ricks and Mortys, some of which had different clothes and hairstyles.  
“Stay close.” Rick grumbled, squinting his eyes as he tried to nurse his throbbing headache with a bag of frozen peas Julia had given him.  
“Aw, Rick; you don’t have to come with me...” she uttered, having not even noticed his presence up until now.  
“Non-Morty and Ricks shouldn’t be here.” he answered quietly, grabbing her by the wrist to drag her in the direction of the building she needed to go to.  
“Why can’t the others come here?” she questioned, catching up to his pace of walking so that she was no longer being dragged along the street. Rick, too busy eyeing up every Rick and Morty that made eye contact, did not respond.

Finding the building Julia glanced at one of the guards at the entrance, their uniforms distinctly similar to that of the ones who broke into their house before she started living here.  
“I’ll wait in reception for you to get out.” Rick belched, walking straight by the comfortable seating to go right to the mini-bar.  
“Hi… I had a meeting at one with… a councillor Rick?” she informed the Morty behind reception, who took her papers, scanned them and then began typing something.  
“J-Just go sit down, someone’ll call your name.” he stated, watching her wander past the seats to go talk to Rick in the mean time.  
“Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?” she asked with a frown, fumbling a little as she tried to perch herself on the stool nailed to the floor beside him.  
“It’s never too early when you’re a-already drunk.” Rick answered, knocking back his glass of vodka. Julia just hummed in displeasure.

Starting to get a bit hazy-eyed just sitting there doing nothing Julia sprung to action when she heard her name being called, her hand waving Rick, who was now drunk again and on the verge of being wasted, a small goodbye. Following the Morty who had come to collect her through a set of heavy swinging doors, and up the hallway, the brunette looked at all the Ricks and Mortys’ in uniform, it almost felt a bit weird not seeing a single Jerry, Beth or Summer dotted around.  
“Hey… Is there a reason there’s only Ricks and Mortys here?” she decided to ask. Anything to break the silence.  
“R-Rick doesn’t like having lesser intelligent people in the way.” Morty replied, actually sounding a little snobbish about it. “Th-That and, Mortys and Ricks share a similar brain wave, so we help hide Ricks locations. S-Something about cancelling their energies out, or something.” he then added on, to which she gave a small ‘oh’ and went back to just looking around.

Being dumped in a small room Julia sat there staring at the table, her hands beginning to pat her knees as she tapped her foot, made popping noises and rolled her eyes around to look at all the white walls, flooring and ceiling. It had already been ten minutes since she had been left here, and still no one had shown up. Slowly the teen took out her phone and had a look at it, no reception here. Flattening her features she slid it back into her pocket and went back to looking around about her.  
‘White wall, white wall, mirror, white wall.’ she thought to herself, pausing to go back to looking at the mirror.  
For a good minute she just stared at it, wondering if there were people hidden behind it or if it was in fact just a mirror. Hearing the door open the brunette snapped out of her deep concentration and turned to look at the Rick that had entered, on the once clean table he dropped a leaking coffee cup and a stack of papers which scattered, all of their edges dog-eared. Loudly the metal chair scrapped across the floor before he sat himself down.  
“Julia, yeah?” he questioned indifferently, while she gave a small nod and tried not to look down at the paperwork.

From out of her peripheral she could tell there were faces and names on them, as well as a lot of, presumably, personal information. He did not look like the sort to care if she did in fact look, however.  
“I’m just going t-to ask you a few si-si-sim-simple questions for your case file.” he informed her.  
“Okay.” she agreed, scratching her knee with her index finger uncomfortably.  
“Name.” he began.  
“Julia Smith.”  
“Any other names?”  
“No.”  
“W-What’s you mother’s full name? You’re not a Sanchez from the DNA sample we were given prior to you coming here.” Rick requested, checking the tiny document they did have on her to make sure that was accurate.  
“Oh, uh...” Julia hesitated. “Glenda Vander Höturz.” she then stiffly stated, gritting her teeth.

Writing that down Rick’s expression did not even twitch, seemingly he did not care if the name sounded incredibly fake or not.  
“Ju-Just keep in mind, if you lie about a-an-anything it will show up on your report.” he warned her in a dead-pan fashion. Or maybe not. “Age, date of birth.” he then requested.  
“Seventeen. Fifteenth of May, Nineteen-ninety-nine.” she answered.  
“Gender?” he questioned.  
“Female...”  
“Sexuality?”  
“What?” she asked, her eyebrow quirking at the corner.  
“We have to ask that qu-question. Union bullshiiiit.” Rick belched.  
“Oh, uh… Straight? I guess?” she informed him.

Watching him note that down as well the teen began to grow a little more anxious, not entirely sure what he was going to ask next if her sexuality was on the table.  
“Are you, or have you, been pregnant in the last seven months?” Rick asked.  
“No.” she replied, well that was a seemingly normal question at least.  
“Do you plan on getting pregnant in the next seven months?”  
“No...”  
“Are you single, dating, married, divorced?”  
“Single.”  
“Have you, or do you, take drugs?”  
“Prescribed medication.”  
“Do you have any medical conditions that might make you unable to work in certain fields?” he then asked, and this time she actually had to think.  
“I’m blind in one eye so I have poor depth perception.” Julia informed him. “I was also diagnosed with clinical depression, so… yeah.” she then trailed off, trying not to stay on the topic much longer than necessary.

Silently he scribbled it down and then flipped the page over on his clipboard.  
“Previous work experience?” he began again.  
“Did late nights as a waitress at a bar on weekends. I wasn’t allowed to serve the alcohol though. They’d sometimes let me play up on stage too.” she replied, not sure she had any other experience to really advertise.  
“Was that your preferred field of work?”  
“No, not really… But nothing I want to do is really a full-time career option. It’s mostly freelance.” she admitted, tugging on her lip piercing.  
“Such as?” he questioned.  
“Costume or fashion design… Singing is my main passion, but I’ve tried making that into a paying career for years now with no luck.” she admitted wearily.

Once the meeting was over Rick took her to another Rick who made her run around, jump on the spot and basically just sit there being zapped, poked and prodded in the name of science. Bruised and sore she then left that room rubbing her arm, she did not like any of that physical test. In the last and final room a third Rick took her inside and started scanning her with a lazer gun, quietly murmuring to himself as he wrote down whatever he saw.  
“Ectopic Kidney, blind in one eye...” he stated. “Five-foot-eleven inches, thirty-six double-G, size nine feet...” he then continued, to which her cheeks began to fire up.  
“… Did you just measure my tits?” she questioned, but he simply chose to ignore her.

Finally being allowed to leave Julia headed back out to the reception where Rick was now asleep at the bar, his arm hooked around a half-empty bottle of rum.  
“Brilliant.” she muttered, heading over to him to shake him awake. “Wake up.” she grumbled, but when he did nothing more than wave a drunk hand at her she sighed. Reaching into his pocket she grabbed out his portal gun and began fiddling with it, a portal opening up moments later that would take them home. “Well, see you later, Rick.” she uttered, lifting him up by his waist to carry him through the portal, dump him on the floor on the other side, and then head back through into the reception once again. 

Keeping the portal gun in her possession Julia put it into her shoulder bag and began to head towards the exit, deciding that she would enjoy the temporary access to the main Citadel while it was there for her.  
Looking at a map of the city the teen took a moment to look at her railcard again, it would only be valid until midnight. Doubting that she would have a reason to stay that long Julia began to head towards the mall, wondering what amazing outfits the Ricks and Mortys could possibly be selling. It took about twenty minutes but the teen eventually got to the shopping centre, her headphones covering her ears as she tried to ignore the staring from passers-by.

Inside she had a gander at the various shops, from electronics and gadgets to charity shops. Most of the places were in fact not clothes shops as she had suspected however, when every Rick and Morty wore the exact same clothes there was not much demand for high-end fashion she supposed, and a lot of it just came down to a price-tag and a label. Wandering into a shop that looked to be more in her price range, and was meant for Ricks specifically, she examined the limited sizes of all the typical blue jumpers a Rick would wear.  
‘Maybe I should buy some new clothes for Rick. Pretty sure he’s been wearing the same trousers for sixty years.’ Julia internally mused, checking the prices before looking at a couple of the deals on in store. ‘Apparently if I buy the set I get a discount.’ she acknowledged, rubbing the fabric between her fingers in thought.

Deciding to check a few more stores Julia eventually found a place with the best deal, her hands grasping several paper bags as she wandered back out. Looking about she then decided to go into a book store, inside there were several different kinds of books, all written by Mortys and Ricks. ‘How to care for your Morty’ one book was titled, while another said ‘How to care for your Rick’, curious she set her bags down and began to read from a few pages. It was actually a rather interesting incite into keeping a Rick happy, almost like a marriage guide.

Further into the book store there were a few books written by Jerrys’, but for some reason even the more serious ones were in the ‘comedy and kids’ section.  
“The romance of a rose.” she murmured under her breath, turning a couple pages out of idle curiosity. Shutting the book she put it back on the shelf, okay… she could somewhat see why that book was here, but surely there were better books? Picking up several more she frowned a little, a lot of these books were terrible, and even more of them were self-help books; ‘To be a Jerry’, ‘How to make a failing marriage work’, ‘How to prove a Rick wrong’, ‘Dealing with crippling anxiety’, were just some of the many titles. Unimpressed to say the least Julia left that section and wandered into another isle, this time made for Ricks. 

Not sure she would find anything here she could even begin to understand the teen paused, her eyes catching sight of something; and there it was, nestled between two rather plain books, the title glinting against her eye as she pulled it down to have a better look.  
‘How to make your own hover-board.’ she noted, turning to half-way through the book to see what it said. It looked like an incredibly inciteful instruction manual on the ins and outs of creating one, so much so that it even came with fold out blue prints and detailed photos of each and every part, from how they looked to where they each went.

Looking at the price Julia fumbled with her pocket change to see if she had enough, thankfully she was just shyly over the amount needed.  
‘I guess I can just window shop after this.’ she surmised, heading to the counter to show the Morty sitting there the book she wanted.  
“I-Is that all?” he questioned, pulling a face but serving her nonetheless.  
“Yeah.” she replied, putting the book into one of her bags.  
“Y-You know, you get a free book with th-this purchase.” he informed her, gaining a confused but interested look from her.  
“Oh, well hang on…” she stated, wandering off to go find that guide on Ricks and bring it back.  
“Y-You sure you want this book? You-You can have anything in the store.” Morty added, but she just shook her head a bit.  
“Nah, I think I’ll just go with that one.” she answered, putting the book away before finally exiting the building to look from left to right.

She had wanted to get lunch at one of the mall canteens but with no money left over she supposed she would just eat once she got home, and upon doing a full lap of the mall, on each floor, she finally made a portal and wandered through into her bedroom. Dumping her stuff she then went looking for Rick, who was still passed out on the living room floor. Pouting she opened up a portal underneath him and watched him fall through before then going to his bedroom to make sure he landed on the bed. His upper body had hit the mattress but his ass was off the edge and on the floor.  
“Close enough.” she mused, going inside to put him on the bed correctly. “You really need to stop drinking so much.” she then told him off, while he just snored in return as she put the covers over him and took his shoes off.  
Around about dinner time Rick awoke in his bed, his head throbbing as he lifted one arm to put his hand onto his forehead. Squinting at the ceiling he remembered vaguely what he had been doing that morning and slowly sat up, got out of bed and staggered to his bedroom door. In the dining room, in front of his favoured chair, was his favourite meal which was still hot. Looking around he went back to looking at it. “What is this?” he questioned suspiciously, cautiously going over to the table to sit down.

Pulling a face Rick slowly picked up his knife and fork and began eating, his mouth chewing only for a few bites. It was not quite the szechuan sauce he was obsessed with but he could tell whoever had made this had tried their best to recreate it from scratch. Eating a few more mouthfuls Rick half expected his godforsaken ex-wife to wander through that kitchen door, but instead it was Julia, who pulled an equally strange face in return.  
“What?” she questioned, feigning ignorance.  
“D-Did you make this?” he questioned, pointing his knife at his meal before stuffing another piece into his mouth.  
“Yeah. Is it okay?” the brunette asked curiously.  
“Sauce needs work.” he answered through a mouthful, he certainly was not refusing to clean his plate anyway. “And the beef isn’t cooked right.” he then informed her, to which she nodded and suddenly he was going off on a tangent about it.

In the book she had read that as long as he did not liken her cooking to ‘Frumble shite’ it meant he, on some level, appreciated the gesture. Throughout the entire rant not a single mention of the creatures faeces was brought up, and so Julia assumed he must have at least enjoyed it a little bit, and thus was moderately content that the book had actually been of some use. Finally he stopped ranting and spitting food everywhere, while Julia just stared at him with that same weird look on her face.  
“You want some Trubble juice?” she asked, certain he was finished.  
“… Y-Yes I want some fu-f-fucking juice.” he replied, continuing to eat as she vanished back into the kitchen. The book had also advised her not to reply to his aggression with any unnecessary comebacks; no matter how wrong Rick was he was always right.

Before bringing him his juice Julia took a quick look at the notes she had taken upon doing a fast scan of the book whilst cooking, she had noted that she should give him his juice, make no physical or eye contact with him and just leave the room. Since it was an unusually quiet dinner with everyone out of the house he would appreciate some time to himself, especially while nursing a headache. Apparently Trubble juice was the best cure for a hangover, and thankfully it had not been too hard to get a hold of either.

Since the book had been pretty accurate up until now Julia decided to continue to agree with its directions and went into the dining room, gave him his juice and then went to go watch some television without saying a word. Rick, still eating, watched her vanish towards the living room, still feeling slightly suspicious of her behaviour, but he decided to say nothing.  
That next morning Julia had decided to go to the junk yard to find the parts she would need for the hover-board. Upon locking the door and heading down the driveway the teen heard Rick shouting something and thus turned to look at him, apparently him and Morty were getting ready for another adventure.  
“Where are you going?” he questioned.

He had assumed it was to take Tufts for a walk since she was at her feet, strapped to a harness, but the large amount of bags had him suspicious.  
“Scrap yard.” she replied, making sure she had enough bags to carry everything home in.  
“W-Why?” he asked, quirking his monobrow.  
“I decided to work on a little project while I wait for the citadel to give me a work placement.” she informed him.  
“W-What are you making, a-a-a space ship?” Morty mocked, to which Rick grinned slightly in amusement.  
‘Don’t let them get to you.’ she thought before speaking. “Hilarious.” she sarcastically replied. “Have fun banging mole people, or whatever it is you’re doing this time!” Julia then shouted up the driveway as she walked off, to which Rick shouted something back that she could not quite hear as she had put on her headphones.

At the scrapyard Julia kept looking back at her book as she tried to figure out what stuff was, while Tufts just wandered around as far as the harness would allow her.  
“Need five AC-T clips… and seven AC-Z clips...” she murmured, scratching the back of her head. Looking around Julia began lifting up pieces of metal and opening the hoods of broken cruisers, but a lot of these seemed to have already been stripped. Going deeper into the junk yard the teen eventually found what she thought she needed and bagged them before looking at the next item. Back and forth across the yard she kept looking for things, not quite sure what some things were while other things she decided to avoid completely because they looked radioactive. “Okay, we just need panels now.” Julia uttered, rubbing the back of her forehead.  
Dragging everything home Julia dumped the goods in the garage, her cheek smudged with oil as she put the lights on and lifted the garage door all the way up. The parts she had brought home stunk of engine grease and no doubt the fumes would get to her if she did not let the air in. Late into the evening Julia had been fiddling with the parts, while Tufts had curled up and gone to sleep in her basket that the teen had dragged in and put under the workbench.

With goggles on, and noise cancelling headphones over her ears, the teen worked tirelessly to try get at least a quarter of the board built before bed time, so much so that she did not even notice Jerry open the garage door to tell Rick it was dinner time only to see it was Julia making all that noise. Leaning over her shoulder to see what she was doing Julia jumped when she noticed him, the blow torch being switched off as she did so.  
“Dad!” she shouted, pulling up her goggles to show just how dirty her face was.  
“Sorry, sorry!” he apologised, leaning back with his hands up. “I just came to tell you dinner’s ready.” he informed her, to which she let out a small ‘oh’ and put her work tools down. “What-a… What are you working on?” her father questioned, trying to have a nosey.  
“Oh, I'm making a hover-board.” she answered, to which he seemed to grow a little giddy.  
“Ohh, that sounds fun.” he acknowledged, while she got to her feet and stretched a bit. “Where’s Rick?” he then asked, less enthusiastically.  
“On an adventure still, I think.” she answered, certain if he had come home by now she would have been throttled for using his work station… again.

Washing her face and hands several times Julia wandered into the dining room and sat down, ready to tuck in, though her eyes and mind kept drifting back to her project.  
“How’d that meeting go?” Beth asked, having had no chance to ask her up until now.  
“It went okay. They asked a bunch of personal questions, so I feel slightly violated, but nothing seemed to go wrong.” Julia answered, trying not to remember the two uncomfortable physical exams. “Rick got a little drunk waiting for me, so I put him to bed and then went shopping in the citadel.” she then continued. “Did you know they have clothes shops filled with literally nothing but yellow shirts, and the like? I managed to find a great sale on clothes for Rick there. Managed to get him three new sets for the price of one. Insane.” Julia went on, putting more food into her mouth.  
“You spent your allowance on Rick?” Jerry complained, frowning a little.  
“Stop it Jerry; I think it’s nice she bought her granddad some new clothes.” Beth replied snappily.  
“It probably wont stop him smelling weird.” Jerry mumbled under his breath. 

Rolling her eye Julia went back to eating while they both bickered, she had actually totally forgotten about the clothes she had bought for Rick. They were probably still in her room. Finding them to be gone an entire week Julia had enjoyed the luxury of the garage being completely empty and at her disposal this whole time, but all good things had to come to an end and soon, amidst her work, the infamous green light brightened up the darkened garage and out came Rick and Morty, both of which looked absolutely wrecked. Turning she looked at them, while Rick rubbed his stubble and groaned. Were their adventures really all that fun if they kept coming home looking like that? 

Flattening her features she used the noise cancelling headphones to block out Rick’s ranting for a little while, which only seemed to get even more exaggerated and animated when he saw Jerry wander in with drinks for himself and Julia. On his days off he had been trying to help her build the hover-board, but for the most part all he had been allowed to do was watch or hand her tools.  
Trying to remember what the guide had said Julia pulled down her headphones and examined Rick, his chest now heaving as he seethed and huffed like an aggravated snake.  
“You want me to run you a bath?” Julia asked rather calmly. “I got this stuff called ‘Googerberry cream’, it smells kinda funky but...” she offered him, to which his bared teeth began to vanish behind his lips. Slowly he was beginning to calm down.  
“R-Run me a fucking bath, I’m going for a sh-shit.” Rick grumbled, while Morty and Jerry just looked on in amazement. 

That was the first time they had ever seen him come down from one of his anger fuelled rants without being so aggravated by what the person said, in a terrible attempt at trying console him, that he just got even more worked up. Running him a nice hot bath Julia put the bath bomb in and then swished the water around, her eyes flicking about as she put a thermometer in and waited to see how hot it was.  
“Perfect.” she practically purred, it was the exact temperature a grouchy Rick apparently needed.  
With that she stood up, made sure there were fluffy towels for him to take, and then went to get him. “Baths ready.” she informed him, watching him mutter and grumble as he went past her and slammed the door shut. 

Waiting she then shouted through to him.  
“Temp’ okay?” she questioned.  
“Yes.” she heard him reply in a vaguely audible voice.  
‘Good.’ Julia then thought, leaving him to soak. Going back into the garage the teen began cleaning up after herself, even going so far as to use a photograph she had taken to make sure everything was back to the way it had been left.  
Double checking everything matched Julia put her half-built hover-board and scraps into a box and carried them into her room, dumping the box down she then looked at the paper bag she kept forgetting about. Pouting she decided it was now or never and went into Rick’s room, noting the discarded clothes he had put in the washing basket she pulled them out, emptied the pockets onto a study desk in the room and then turned them inside out to make sure nothing was left.

Thereafter she tossed them in the bin and laid out the new clothes she had gotten him, while putting the others neatly away in the closet and cupboard. She was sure they would not last the week but at least he could enjoy some nice new clothes for a little while.  
“Maybe I should have bought him new shoes and socks.” she quietly wondered, hearing Rick come in and pause.  
“Wh-What are you doing?” he questioned, stood in the doorway with a towel loosely wrapped around his hips.  
“Oh, I bought you some new clothes… You looked like you needed them, especially after today.” she explained, showing him the typical Rick outfit laid out neatly on the bed for him. “I kept forgetting to get them out of my room so… Yeah.” she then added, backing off out of the way to keep her distance.

The book had told her that Ricks (though she already knew this) hated physical contact, especially the kind they did not instigate themselves; so it was in her best interest not to be within arms length of him, and he had really long arms.  
“Well,” she began, scooting across the wall towards the door. “I’ll let you get dressed, or have a nap-” she then added, going out into the hall. “Bye!” she bid him farewell, shutting the door and vanishing up the hallway like a whippet.  
“… Th-The actual fuck?” Rick questioned, looking absolutely perplexed. What the hell was wrong with that girl?  
That next day Julia was sitting in her room reading what to do next; apparently she needed to do something outside Rick’s comfort zone, as by now this sudden change in her personality would be obvious to him, he was not an idiot.  
“Two steps back to take a step forward.” she mumbled, hiding the book before getting up. So all she had to do was one thing that would piss him off and that would ease any suspicions that she was somehow up to something.

Entering the living room she found that Rick was watching television, but she could not quite think of something that would bother him here. A little later on she found him in the kitchen making food, the only thing she could think of being to put something in his food she ‘thought’ would make it better only for him to hate it. Suddenly there were butterflies in her stomach as she ducked her head back round the corner before he could turn and see her looking, she had never been given the okay to piss someone off. What had been nothing more than a curious social experiment was beginning to be a full-time job and a bit stressful.  
“W-What are you doing?” Rick asked, having come out from the kitchen to find her just standing at the wall staring out the dining room window with an uneasy look on her face.  
“Nothing.” she answered stiffly, trying to think of something to say the longer he just stared at her. “I uh… I was just going to tell you I’m using the garage again, since you’re not in there right now.” she fumbled, trying to then act moderately casual half way through.  
“I-I’ve told you before, a man’s garage is his castle. S-S-Stay out of my garage.” Rick began to rant, going to the table to sit down.

Silent for a moment Julia frowned a little. But she wanted to work on her hover-board.  
“You wont even know I’ve been in your ‘castle’ once I’m finished, your lord ship.” she replied, to which he paused and looked up at her. Had she gone too far? Suddenly her stomach was churning again.  
“I’m this close to f-fucking sending you through a portal to a desert somewhere.” Rick muttered, whilst she settled somewhat. Was that enough?  
Leaving him to it she disregarded his threat and went into the garage to work on her hover-board, and for a little while she supposed he had either chosen to ignore this disobedience or he had just not noticed her raiding his ‘castle.’ Roughly an hour later Julia was so deep in concentration that she did not noticed him enter, his vision taking in how crushed up against a corner of the table she was. Obviously she was trying her best not to be in the way while also having enough space for all of her junk. He was not entirely sure where she had found these things she was using, but he was certain he would not have picked any of it up himself.

It was obvious she had not been using any protection other than goggles and sound mufflers either, as all up her arms were scrapes, cuts and massive bruises. Crossing his arms he loomed over her, unbeknownst to her, and eyed up her little project. A hover-board, the book informed him. A pretty basic one at that. From what he could see she had done a rather okay job of putting everything together, but her soldering was abysmal and the panelling would not last five seconds if she went any faster than a mile an hour on that thing.  
“F-Fuck that thing’s terrible.” he stated, watching her still.

Looking around she then peered up at him, her lips flattening out.  
“Where are the boosters?” he questioned, eyeing up the half of the board she had put together.  
“I’m not that far into the instructions yet.” the teen replied, turning away again to admire her work.  
“G-Give me that.” Rick grumbled, picking up the book she had clearly been writing all over to help her understand even the most basic-bitch of instructions. “F-Fuck, who wrote this.” he questioned, turning the book from back to front looking for a name. “Typical.” he then stated. “Doofus Rick.” he scoffed, tossing the book back onto her lap.

Scowling Julia tried to find the page she was on.  
“He doesn't seem that dumb to me. I like how he wrote the instructions.” she stated, propping the book up against the wall.  
“If you like him so much why don’t you-you u-use his garage?” Rick responded coldly, heading to the empty side of the workbench to work on something of his own.  
“Pft, I wish! I bet he has loads of people showing up at his door.” the brunette scoffed, boxing up her stuff to leave.


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhere in the little hours of the night Julia had been sleeping peacefully, her expression calm and her form still as the darkness in her room was suddenly lit up by a stream of yellow hall light, the beam soon trailing over her resting figure being cut in half thereafter by a shadow as it began to creep over her.  
“J-J-Julia, you gotta get up, Julia-” Rick began, causing her to grunt herself awake in confusion. “I-I’ve got something in the garage to show you!” he continued to rant.  
“Rick...” she answered, her eyes half lidded as she stared at the bedroom wall inches from her nose.  
“G-Get up!” he spat, trying to tug her bed covers out of her grip.  
“Rick… I’m going to turn around now… And you’d better be on fire.” the brunette began, her back still to him as she continued to stare blankly at the wall. “You’d better be standing there in flames, and the only person who can put you out is me; because that is the only conceivable reason for why you would wake me up like this!!” she shrieked, finally sitting up and turning to look at him.

Rick, thereafter, stared at her for a moment, his lips deflated and drooping slightly. He was not on fire however, much to her displeasure. Not even the aggressive, fiery glare she now had on her face was doing much to even get a corner of his white lab coat to burst into flames. Moments later he went back to ranting and grabbing at her, causing her to shout to the ceiling in defeat as he took her from her bed.  
In the garage, under the crappy little light that barely lit up even half of the room, Julia stood there, the soles of her feet growing cold on the concrete floor. She was not entirely listening to him but she tuned in for the most part when he showed her this ‘amazing’ invention that he had woken her up in the middle of the night to see. 

Tired she just examined it, while he just stared at her in anticipation.  
“Well? S-S-See how much better this hover-board is compared to that Doofus Rick’s one?” he questioned, turning back to look at it as he put it on the floor to show it off. Slowly her eye opened that little bit more, maybe what she had said had hit him a little deeper than just on the stony exterior of his constant bravado.  
“Yeah, Rick… That is pretty cool.” she replied, watching him show off the various options it had.  
As he ranted and raved about his invention, and how superior it was, Julia sat down on his chair and made small noises of agreement as she leaned back, got comfy and closed her eye. Amidst his gloating Rick called her name, searching for further clarification only to get silence.   
“Julia?” he questioned, gaining radio silence. “...Julia?” he asked again, frowning as he turned. Tilting his head down thereafter he found that she had dozed off in his chair.

Waking up early that morning Julia trudged into the kitchen to pour herself some cereal, her hand blindly grabbing for one of the boxes. Hearing the mail come through the door the teen went to go retrieve it, flicking through it to see if there was a letter for her. Nothing. Sighing she got dressed and began cleaning the house, the sound of Morty being dragged through a portal to another world making her lips flatten. Picking up the book on Ricks she sat down at the kitchen table to do some light reading, wondering if there was any way to convince him to take her on an adventure too. Lolling from page to page the brunette found herself with no answer, a soft sigh parting her lips as she went into the garage to continue working on her hover board.

Late into the night she worked on the board, the back of her hand rubbing her sweating brow to stop the beads from landing on the circuit board.  
“Man this is hard work.” she admitted, hearing Tufts come in and whine about wanting to go potty. “Aw, Tufts; I’m sorry, I just got so distracted, and I- Holy shit!” she began to apologise, only to then swear when she realised the time.  
“Language!!” she heard Beth scream from the other side of the house, making her flinch a little.  
“That woman has supersonic hearing, I swear...” the brunette whispered, taking her pet to go get her leash and harness.

The next time that she saw Rick was when she had finally finished her board and was trying to fine tune it, his gaze moving from his empty garage to the open door and down the drive way to Julia at the bottom. Currently she was standing on the board and trying to get it to pick her up.  
“I don’t get it...” she murmured, getting back off of it only to watch it ping up off of the ground and start floating again.  
“You used junk to put it together, w-what did you expect you were going to get?” Rick informed her, her head turning to look at him.  
“At least it’s floating… I guess.” she murmured, watching as it short circuited and hit the ground with a heavy thud. Staring at it she let out a long, drawn out sigh.  
“I made you a fully functioning hoverboard, why are you still messing with that thing?” he questioned sceptically.  
“Because I wanted to make my own.” she tutted, picking it up. “I guess I’ll-” she went to say, getting electrocuted. Dropping her board she let out a surprised yelp. “Son of a!” she protested, gripping her wrist. “Burnt my hand...” she then hissed, her pout deepening.  
“Yeah, I-I’d stop plaaaaying with that thing now.” Rick belched. “I’m sur-surprised it hasn’t exploded yet.” he then mocked, whilst she rolled her eyes and picked it up.  
“I guess it was a fun project while it lasted...” she admitted.

Later that evening Julia had been playing with the board Rick had built her, though she was rather shocked he had not either sold it, dismantled it or gave it to Morty by the time she decided to take it off of him. Floating about the garage she did not stray far on the board, just in case Rick’s handy work decided to explode before her own did. Glancing at his tools once she was done messing about Julia slowly began to ponder what made his board so much better than Doofus Rick’s, her eyes lowering down to look at the simple little board curiously.  
Placing it upside down the brunette grabbed a couple screw drivers and began dismantling the panels on the back, her bored expression altering when she saw just how details the inside actually was.  
“Oh shit...” she whispered, eyeballing all the circuits and chips. “Wait...” she then murmured, leaning her face closer. “Heeey, these are the parts from my board that went missing!” she protested, starting to frown. Mulling it over the young woman glanced off for a moment. “Crappy soldering my ass.” she muttered, sealing the board back up again. “Good enough for your board though, right Rick?” she then grumbled, putting the board down in her room before she started getting ready for bed. 

As the artificial morning came upon them Julia stood in the kitchen with a large envelope addressed to her. Opening it up, feeling rather hopeful, she found it was her official ID card which included her visa to work. Along with that was a folded up letter, which she opened as it was apparently the job she had been assigned.  
“Hm...” she murmured, scanning for any other information.  
“Get your job application?” Jerry asked, coming downstairs and into the dining room.  
“Yeah.” she replied, still reading it.  
“Employment at the Rick in Arms… Eleven hours a night, from eleven until eleven.” she uttered.  
“Wow… That’s a lot of hours.” her father commented, frowning a little. “One day a week, right?” he then questioned.  
“No, I’ll be working six out of seven days a week.” she answered.   
“They have you working sixty-six hours a week??” Jerry grimaced, absolutely shocked. “Where is it? Close I assume...” he then surmised.  
“Apparently this bar is in the main citadel, so they’ve given me a permanent train pass.” she informed him, shaking the letter to find the aforementioned pass.  
“You’re getting better benefits than me...” Jerry pouted, having to pay for everything himself.

Later into the week, on her first day of work, Julia got into the uniform they had sent her and then had a look at herself in the mirror. It was not exactly the worst uniform she had ever seen as it was a black apron, a white button-up shirt and an ebony pencil skirt. The logo was an outline of a Rick’s head (with the top missing), a wine glass handle at the base for a neck and an ice cube for a brain. It was actually quite a nice logo design. Pulling on her white coat with the black fur trim Julia stroked Tufts before leaving, ready to make the journey to the bar.  
Having walked to the train station the teen waited quietly on a bench, the train gliding into the station a few minutes later. Getting on she looked around, waiting for someone to come verify her card but no one came, actually the entire train was empty, but then it was ten at night. Keeping a firm eye on the stations they kept stopping at Julia noted that no one got on or off the entire time, and when she got off at the right stop there was no one waiting there either.

Stopping at the entrance to the citadel Julia was finally met with someone, a guard. Showing him her ID he scanned it, looked it over thrice and then handed it back to her before opening the gate to let her in. They definitely took their security seriously, that was for sure. The streets were pretty dead once she got out onto the main walkway, but then again it was a weekday. The only people she did see were Ricks and Mortys walking home from a late work shift, but those sort of ‘cleaner’ looking characters began to dwindle the deeper into the backstreets she went, and finally, upon finding her place of work, she was definitely sure none of these people had worked an honest day in their life.  
They left her alone for the most part, except the occasional Morty that, for whatever unusual reason, hissed at her from around one of the cannisters that they had lit on fire to keep warm. All she could really do was pull a face at them and continue on her way. Finding the entrance she followed the guide she had been given and went down the tight alley to a door, using her company key to then get inside and lock the door behind herself.

Once inside, and thankful to be away from the weirdos, Julia then went up the hallway and through another door, albeit carefully, and found a small waiting room. It was a rather nice looking room all things considered, with a door marked ‘boss’ that she assumed housed exactly who it implied. Looking at her watch she found that she had to sit and wait, the letter had stressed that if she dared knock before a specific time, or after that time, she would be fired right on the spot. Not exactly the most stress-free instructions to be given on her first day.  
Soon the time came and she got up, walked over to the door and knocked twice, just as instructed. Inside there was a slight shuffle and the sound of something being moved, thereafter, finally, they spoke.  
“Get in here.” they commanded, and soon enough she opened the door and went inside. Her boss had his back to her now, probably trying to be as intimidating as possible. And by god it was working.

Feeling her brow sweat a little Julia shut the door and then stood there, not entirely sure what to do next.  
“You the new recruit?” the Rick asked, to which she nodded. At that point she was at first not sure he even saw her nod, but then she realised he was looking at her through a mirror in his hand. She was not entirely sure why he was looking at her through a mirror but she was not about to question it. “Name.” he requested dryly, lowering the mirror.  
“Julia.” she answered stiffly. “Julia Smith.” she then added, as if it needed to be said. She certainly was not a Sanchez.  
“Oh right… You-You’re the girl the off-officials warned me about.” he acknowledged. “Just stay out in the hall. Te-Tell me if anyone comes in, and wait for me to call you if I need dri-drinks or food.” he then informed her with a casual flick of his wrist.

Feeling her lips deflate after a long period of stress Julia allowed the tension to wash away from her.  
“You don’t want me to work down in the bar, or anything?” she asked, feeling slightly hesitant.  
“No.” he replied. “Your job is to serve me. Only me.” he added.  
“Okay. That’s… Not as intimidating as I thought it’d be.” she admitted. “I’ll go.. wait outside then.” she then informed him, backing off as she gave his mirror an awkward grin and then vanished out the door, taking care not to slam it.   
In the waiting room Julia went and sat down at the desk she assumed was hers, her hands clasping together as she began to sit there, awkwardly smiling. After five minutes the smile dissipated, by ten minutes she was leaning her elbow on the desk and her face in the palm of hand, and by the first hour she was laying in-between her arm and the table. Tomorrow she would bring something, anything, to keep her busy.

Three hours into the wait Julia was just wandering around the tiny, empty waiting room looking at the photos on the walls. They were generic photos, ones she was pretty sure came with the frame. In fact some even had the company name printed over the faces as advertisements.  
“Fuck me...” the brunette quietly cursed, turning to face the open space of the room, if it could even be called that. By the desk there was a charging socket at least, so if she brought her laptop or something she could plug it in.  
“Oi, woman!” Rick shouted five minutes later. “Get in here.” he demanded, to which she got up and entered.  
“Yes?” she answered delicately, hoping it was something labour intensive that would take her an hour to do.  
“I have guests arr-arriving in an hour, take th-this money and go to the shops. I need e-eve-ever-everything on this list. I know exactly what change I should get so don’t fu-fuck it up.” he snapped, to which she came a bit closer, took the poorly written list off of the desk and had a look at it.  
‘Shit, I could never read his chicken scratch.’ she thought, heading towards the door. Most of it was legible but she decided to double check one of them as it seemed like a weird request.  
“Just to make sure I’m right, is that a… punnet of… Gargleberry?” she asked, squinting her eye slightly.  
“Yes.” he replied simply, to which she nodded and left to grab her coat.

Pocketing the money and the shopping list Julia left the building and went to the shops along the street, the loud thumping music dissipating into the background. Entering the grocery shop she was rather shocked it was even open this late, but more so that it was not being robbed.   
Gazing around she went down each isle to find everything on the list, adding them to the basket one by one. Grabbing a box of condoms she stared at them for a second, not entirely sure why he would need them as she placed them into her basket. Going to the front she handed over her shopping and asked for a bag.

Scanning everything the Rick did not say anything, even after she had paid him, her hand reaching out to take her change and then leave. Out on the street Julia stopped to fix her coat, her uniform being flashed through the window towards the clerk. Her expression turning to confusion when the Rick came bumbling out of the store waving a note at her.  
“Huh?” she mused, taking it from him.  
“I-I uh… Miscalculated the change.” he stammered nervously, watching her pocket the money and then zip up her coat properly.  
“That’s… okay?” she replied hesitantly, watching him look around rapidly thereafter and duck back inside. “Weird...” she murmured, quirking her eyebrow as she headed back towards the bar.

Back in the room Julia knocked on the door and entered once he voiced approval.  
“I assume this is the right change.” the brunette surmised, putting the money on the table. “Where do you want the rest?” she then asked, not seeing any mini-bar or fridge in the room.  
“Take it downstairs. Where’re the condoms?” Rick enquired, watching her remember and rummage around in the bag. Putting them on the desk she then clinked the bottles together as she headed over to the door to take everything else downstairs. “N-Not shy, are you?” he commented, gaining her attention as she was halfway out the door.  
“Oh.. uh… No.” she replied.  
“How old are you?” he then asked.  
“Seventeen.”  
“Birthday?”  
“… Three weeks from now?” she answered, giving him an odd look. Rick said nothing else after that and presumably wanted her to leave.

Heading downstairs, through the door just after her desk, Julia stopped at the bottom and knocked on the iron door there, moments later it opened and a haggard looking Rick answered.  
“What?” he questioned, giving her a dry look.  
“Rick told me to bring you these.” she informed him, holding up the bag. Snatching it from her he looked inside, looked up at her and then leaned in slightly.  
“Yah must be new. Don’t let the boss catch yah callin’ ‘im anything other than Boss.” he murmured, leaning away again before running his index finger across his throat.  
“I, uh...” she began, flinching when he slammed the door shut in her face, plunging her back into darkness.

Pulling an uncomfortable face Julia went back upstairs and sat down at her desk, she was beginning to think she rather liked just sitting here on her own. Forty minutes later Rick’s guests arrived, the three of them walking in in rather well kept suits, their hats coming off as the middle member of the trio came over to her.  
“Hey there, here to see the boss man.” he informed her politely, to which she nodded, got up and wandered over to the door. Knocking she got the ‘okay’ and poked her head in.  
“Your… clients? Are here.” she guessed, to which he grumbled and requested she let them in. Getting out of the way Julia motioned for them to head inside, waiting until they were all in before she shut the door and went back to sitting at her desk.

Everything was pretty quiet after that, with a Rick coming upstairs from the bar with drinks a few minutes later. He did not seem at all wary of the ‘knock and wait’ policy and just went in, stayed in there for a few minutes and then came out just as calmly. Sitting there she watched him slowly walk back towards the door to the downstairs, his eyes ticking to the side as he stared at her until the door was in the way. Feeling her brow begin to sweat the teen frowned, these Ricks were far different from what she was used to. Leaning back Julia began taking deep breaths, all would be fine. So far nothing had actually happened, it was all just demeanour and atmosphere. It could only get better. 

It did not.

By the end of her first day Julia stood in Rick’s office waiting for his opinion on how she had done, but he seemed to be taking a good while to decide on his choice words.  
“How was your fff-first day?” he finally asked.  
‘Intimidating.’ she thought. “Great, it was interesting.” she lied.  
“Good… good.” Rick murmured, tilting his mirror out to look at her again. “Tomorrow I want you to lose the uniform.” he requested, causing her to look down at herself.  
“Oh, ok.” she agreed, not quite sure what he wanted her to wear instead.  
“Skirt’s nice… c-could be shorter.” he added vaguely, which caused her cheeks to heat up ever so slightly. She was most definitely not used to a Rick talking to her like that. The most her Rick would do was complain about her tits hanging out and ruining everything, but then he did that to Summer as well. “Wh-Wha-Whatever you were wearing in your ID would be good.” he uttered as an after thought.

Assuming he meant the grey-plaid miniskirt and the white shirt Julia could do nothing more than nod slightly.  
“A-Anyway, you can leave.” Rick grumbled, stowing away the mirror.  
“Okay. I’ll see you in tomorrow then.” she agreed, leaving thereafter. The way home was far busier than before, with multiple Ricks and Mortys getting in the way as she tried to squeeze herself onto the train home. Half way through the city practically everyone got off again, allowing her to finally grab a seat, and by the time she was at her home station no one was on at all. 

The streets were littered with Mortys and Summers heading home for lunch from school however, with some of them looking at her and muttering amongst themselves about having not seen her before.  
“Julia!” she heard someone shout, causing her to stop and turn. It was her Morty, she assumed. Catching up to her they began walking together. “H-How was your first day of work?” the brunet asked curiously.  
“I don’t know...” she admitted, pouting. “It was intimidating, and I’m pretty sure the bar is a cover-up for something sketchy, but I didn’t have to do anything.” she explained, while he gave her a questioning look. “I literally just sit at this desk waiting for Rick to give me a task.” she continued.  
“S-Sounds like easy money.” her half-brother uttered cheerfully.

Nodding she unlocked the door, pausing before opening it when Morty stopped her.  
“Oh geez, Rick’s a b-bit angry by the way.” Morty warned her quietly.  
“Why?” Julia questioned.  
“Your pet wouldn’t shut up the entire night.” he explained, and upon her opening the door the barking and screaming started all over again.  
“Aw, Tufts!” Julia greeted her, picking her up off of the floor once she had gotten her coat off. “Did you miss me?” she asked, gaining sloppy licks and continuous whining from her pet.  
“Thank god you’re home.” Jerry groaned, his hair a mess and his eyes blackened from lack of sleep. “We couldn’t get her to stop.” he uttered, totally bemused.  
“Really?” she asked, carrying her into the kitchen before putting her down to try find something to eat.

Snorting and chuffing Tufts went around her feet several times, sniffing all the new scents lingering on her. After she had had her dinner Julia had settled down for the day in her bed, the blinds drawn to try recreate the darkness as best she could.   
Beginning to doze off the teen lay with Tufts curled and latched onto her feet, but slowly her eyes began to open again when she felt an ominous presence staring at her. Carefully she looked around her room, her head tilting as she lifted herself up slightly to see into her blind spots. 

At that point she saw him, Rick had his neck curved around the door so that he could look at her through the darkness. His eyelid were blackened and puffy, his sclera was a scarlet hue and his hair was even more ruffled than usual. He definitely had not had any sleep yet.  
“Rick?” she asked quietly, still between the realms of being awake and asleep. Slowly his head vanished back out of sight and her bedroom door shut over, leaving her in the dark to carefully put her head back down on her pillow and feel mildly uncomfortable until she finally dozed off for good.

Sitting at the dining room table that evening Julia sluggishly ate her breakfast and then got to her feet, this time preparing herself with a laptop, several chargers and snacks for the long night ahead. Beginning to head to the door Julia paused, her eyes casting down on Tufts who was standing there waiting for her with her leash in her mouth.  
“Aw, Tufts… I just took you walkies.” she groaned, taking her leash to hang it up on the hook after taking her coat down. Within seconds her pet was screaming and whining up at her. “Shh, shh!” Julia began begging, kneeling down to pick up her pet. “It’s okay, hun’… I’ll be home in the morning.” she told her, trying to carry her towards her bedroom. Putting her down on the floor Julia tried to keep her inside the room with her leg but Tufts just wormed her way back out and ran off, causing her to rub her face and groan. “I can’t do this right now, I’m going to miss my train.” she bemoaned, grabbing her bag as she charged for the front door again.

Again Tufts was at the front door, tail wagging as she waited for Julia to take her with her.  
“Tufts…” she spoke gently, coming closer and putting the key in the front door. “Bath!” she suddenly gasped, her pet squealing as her tail and ears flicked skywards. Seconds later her pet had hurtled herself through the house to get away and hide somewhere, much to both Julia’s joy and guilt. Opening the door Julia quickly got outside and shut it over again, locking it up she then jogged down the garden path. Heading to the train station the teen narrowly caught her ride, her legs sprawling out as she took deep breaths, running from the end of the street to the station was not the exercise she needed right now. 

Not much else happened on her way to work after that, and upon arriving in that same tiny room as last night Julia put her stuff down before knocking on Rick’s door when the ‘right time’ was shown on her phone.  
“That’s me here… Sir?” she informed him, guessing the correct pronoun to use. When he did not respond the teen went over to her crappy little desk and began setting up her laptop, her hand delving into her bag to grab her charger.

A few hours later the teen had still found herself with nothing to do, but at least this time she could sit back and watch Youtube videos to pass the time. With her headphones around her neck, just in case Rick did in fact shout her name, the teen heard her phone ping. Taking it out of her pocket she found that her Rick had sent her a message, apparently it was a request to ‘shut that thing up.’  
‘Rick, I’m at work.’ Julia answered, receiving a message seconds later.  
‘Catch.’ was all it said.  
“Wha-?” she questioned, hearing the distinct sci-fi noises of a portal opening up. Confused she looked around and then up, her eye bulging seconds later when Tufts came hurtling out. “Oh my god!” Julia gasped, grabbing Tufts mid fall. As soon as she had caught her the portal closed back over and her pet began whining and chirruping at her. “Damn-it Rick!” she protested, grabbing her phone to try call him. 

After the first few rings he dismissed the call, and when she tried to call him back the second time his phone was switched off.   
“I’m going to scalp your bald head, you miserable fuck.” she heatedly stated, leaving him a malicious voice mail. Having temporarily forgotten about her boss being in the other room she flinched when she heard someone begin to speak.  
“Did I ju-just hear the distinct sound of a portal opening up, fo-followed by several barking noises?” Rick asked, uncomfortably calm sounding.  
“… Yes.” she replied, getting to her feet to come to the door. “My Rick… uh… Decided to throw my pet at me.” she explained shamefully.  
“What is it, a Snuffles?” he questioned.  
“Uh, not quite...” she replied, looking down at Tufts in her arms who was still wildly snorting and gently headbutting Julia’s collarbone lovingly. “It’s uh… It’s like a deer? But with six legs.” she tried to explain, having no real idea what she actually was.  
“And it barks?” Rick asked.  
“Well she makes other noises, but yeah… She barks mostly.” she agreed, holding Tufts a bit closer. “B-But she wont make any noise!” she suddenly bleated. “I-I’ll make sure Rick doesn’t send her to me while I’m at work again after tonight.” Julia then panicked.

There was moderate silence after that, while she just stood in front of his door looking incredibly nervous.  
“I s-suppose you can bring it to work with you.” he uttered, her mouth becoming slightly ajar. That was not at all like what she was expecting.  
“O-Oh… But I uh...” she stammered, was a bar really the right place for a pet?  
“T-The last assistant broooought her Snuffles with her to work. J-Just make sure it d-doesn’t shit on the floor.” Rick belched, while she glanced down at Tufts.  
“She wont… She’s a good girl.” she replied, taking her back over to the sofa to put her down. ‘Rick is so lucky this didn’t cost me my job.’ Julia quietly thought to herself, glaring at Tufts slightly as she climbed onto her lap once Julia had sat down in front of her laptop again.

Upon getting home that morning Julia dumped her bags in her room before going to Rick’s garage and then to his room looking for him, when she found him in neither she went into the living room and found him watching television.  
“Hey Rick.” she stated, gaining his attention by turning off the television.  
“I-I was fucking watching that!” he snapped, about to turn around before he felt her hands go onto his shoulders.   
Putting her head over one shoulder to whisper into his ear Julia began to speak in a low voice.   
“I’m going to make this very clear, Rick. If you pull that shit you pulled last night again I’m gonna tie the long hairs on your ass to the short hairs on your head and kick you down the street.” she threatened him, removing her weight to straighten up from behind the sofa. Turning the television back on Julia then dropped the remote back down on the sofa cushion beside him and left.


	3. Chapter 3

As the months crept in Julia took a moment to look at the calendar on the wall on one of her day off, tomorrow would be her eighteenth birthday. It was just a shame she would have to work during it. Leaving her room the teen fiddled with stuff in the living room while Jerry was in the kitchen baking.  
“Christ, Jerry, she’s turning eighteen, not four. Sh-Sh-She wont want a-a fucking birthday cake.” Rick insulted him, having come into the kitchen to get something out of the cupboard to snack on.  
“Well what do you think she’d want?” Jerry enquired, continuing to work on his crude attempt at a cake.  
“Booze, ob-obv-obviously. Not that she doesn’t already drink mine.” the much older man replied with a belch, checking on his hidden stash of vodka to find it was still intact.  
“Julia, birthday cake or a bottle of wine?” the brunet asked, seeing the teen walk in on them. 

The cake was not a surprise however, Julia had never been fond of surprises and Jerry had learnt to just ask her what she wanted.  
“Is that even a question?” she asked, stopping to snatch up the used bowl filled with raw cake mix before Rick could get his hands on it. “A birthday cake.” she tutted, licking the spoon. Rick rolled his eyes at this point.  
“Psht; aren’t you a little old to want a birthday cake?” he questioned.  
“No, Gramps.” Julia tutted, using the spoon to scrape the sides of the bowl. “I will be ninety-years-old and I’ll still want a birthday cake.” she then informed him matter-of-factually.  
“L-Like father like daughter.” he snidely commented, trying to stick his finger into the bowl only for her to bat his hand away.  
“If I was half the cook my dad is I’d only be half as amazing as him.” she cooed, to which Jerry’s ego inflated.  
“Aw, thank you sweetness.” Jerry replied, grinning from ear to ear.  
“You… done with the whisk?” she then asked carefully, stealing Rick’s second option at getting some of that sweet, delicious raw cake mix. 

With that she then left to go sit in the dining room again, having left a sandwich there moments ago.  
“Y-You do realise she just said that to get the whisk, r-right?” Rick asked, his monobrow hitching as he, too, left the kitchen. Left to just stand there on his own Jerry’s ego began to lower back down again while his lips deflated to droop slightly.  
Sitting eating her sandwich Julia paused when her father poked his head through the kitchen doorway.  
“Julia?” he asked.  
“Mmm?” she questioned, her mouth full of bread.  
“You think I’m a good cook, right?” he asked anxiously, watching her nod as she chewed her food and then swallowed it.  
“Of course, I like your cooking.” she reiterated, to which he smiled slightly.  
“Okay… was just checking.” he then trailed off, vanishing back into the kitchen.

Later on Julia learned that they were not going to throw her a party; with Summer’s birthday being two weeks away they were just going to have a large block party with the other Summers’, so Julia could just join in on the festivities then. That did not exactly go according to plan however, as on the morning of the arranged block party, and while Summer was ranting and raving about how amazing her eighteenth birthday was going to be, Julia had received a text.  
‘You awake?’  
‘Yeah.’  
‘Can you get here for three?’ her boss asked her, her quirked brow lowering slowly.

The massive party had fallen on her day off, which was amazing timing as it meant she had not needed to try arrange a holiday with her boss; it also meant she could get wasted and spend the day in bed recovering before she had to go into work that night.  
‘Today?’  
‘Yeah.’  
‘But it’s my day off. And I already had plans to attend Summer’s birthday party.’ she texted back, getting to her feet to go towards her room. Leaning back from his position on the long sofa Rick watched Julia wander off, her eyes glued to her phone in an unusual manner.  
‘You wont be in the office all night. I have to attend a formal party, I just need you to come with me for an hour or so. Humour some business associates, make them think I give a shit about whatever crap they want to push. I’ll arrange a portal gun to send you to the block party at around about ten.’ Rick explained, to which she settled ever so slightly.  
‘What should I wear?’  
‘Come in whatever. I’ve already picked out an outfit.’ he informed her, to which she paused and stared at the phone screen for a moment. A formal party? A stylist? It almost felt like he was pampering her with a sweet eighteen all of her own.

Pulling her black vest, stone washed blue jeans and black boots on Julia slipped into her coat and went to the door.  
“W-Where are you going?” Rick asked, having come out of the living room.  
“My boss needs me to come in for a few hours.” she explained, to which she could have sworn he actually looked disappointed.  
“I-I thought this was your day off?” he questioned casually, pulling out his canister.  
“He just needs my help with a couple things.” she shrugged off, opening the front door. “He said he’d have me home before eleven, so I’ll just miss the opening celebration. I’ll see you tonight!” she added, watching his unimpressed expression vanish behind the closing front door.

Making her way to the bar Julia came up to Rick’s door and then looked at her watch, not entirely sure what he had arranged for her to wear. It must have been something pretty special if she was not able to just rock up in her own best clothes. Once the time was right she knocked and then waited for a response.  
“G-Get in here.” her boss called, to which she opened the door, entered and shut it behind herself. “The dress is there, g-go put it on. Y-You’ve until seven to get ready.” he informed to her, to which she double checked the time and then looked at the box on the chair where his guests would presumably sit. “Use the bathroom in here. I-It has a mirror.” he then added, her gaze moving from the chair to the door to her left. She really did not think she needed four hours to get ready but then she was not about to question him on it either.

Going into the tiny bathroom Julia looked at the box again, her eyes casting down upon the logo.  
‘This looks expensive.’ she thought, beginning to then scratch the seal away just enough that she could peel it back and lift the lid. ‘Oh my god… it even comes with a calling card.’ she continued, picking it up to check both sides. ‘No price tag… Just the name of the company.’ she mused, putting it down to then unfold the protective paper, which was rose scented, and then gander at the neatly bundled up dress. ‘Holy shit...’ she thought, delicately picking it up to let it haphazardly unfold of its own accord and reveal its full length.

Scanning it up and down Julia turned it around and held it up against her torso, not entirely sure something so airy and delicate was really her thing.  
“Is this a cocktail dress?” she questioned.  
“F-Fuck knows. I didn’t pick it out.” Rick called through the door. “The stylist also left the accessories in the bathroom th-that go with it.” he belched, her eyes lolling over to the thin shelf just under the mirror nearest her. Sitting there was a wig, autumn red-orange in colour, long in length.  
“You want me to wear a wig?” she questioned uncomfortably, pretty certain Rick and Morty both shared a strange, undying passion for redheads.  
“Wha- Seriously? What c-colour is it?” he asked.  
“Ginger.” she answered, now glancing between the wig and the dress.  
“S-Sounds about right.” Rick drawled, quietly hoping she would just put on the things brought to her without kicking up a stink.

Sliding on the dress, albeit carefully for fear of tearing the thin silk fabric, Julia stood there looking at herself in the mirror, her index fingers hooked around the two pieces of string that ran over her the curve of her breasts as she tried to make them sit evenly. If the dress had not come with hidden breast support then she would not have pulled off this number at all. It had a plunging v-cut design that only stopped where her sternum ended, but her breasts were at least modestly covered in-spite of this.  
“This dress plunges a little too much...” she informed Rick.  
“What’s it look like?” he asked.  
“I… I guess it’s basically a bra, but with a long sheet of fabric attached to the bottom where it would have otherwise ended?” Julia surmised, not sure how to better describe the dress. “Actually, it kinda looks and feels like a little black, silk negligee.” she admitted.  
“… Y-You sure it’s a dress?” Rick asked, wondering if he had not been clear on what he wanted.  
“I think so?” she replied, not sure herself now. “It has a massive split up the sides too. It’s like an apron...” she continued, playing with one of the flaps before then realising the sides of her knickers were on show. “You can see my underwear...” she uttered, somewhat bemused now.  
“He said something about that.” Rick called through. “Should b-be something in the box that g-goes with it.” he informed her, to which she went back over to the box and loomed over it.

Picking up some strings she rummaged around in the packaging for a moment before then looking at the strings wound up in her hand again. Seeing a small sheet of fabric amongst the mess scrunched up in her hand Julia pulled it taught before then realising it was a thong.  
“Oh my god, this thing is all strings!” she gasped, while outside she heard a small spitting noise.  
“What?” Rick questioned, having apparently been drinking something at the time.  
“I thought it was extra strings for the dress, but it’s a thong.” she explained, turning them back and forth to examine deeply. ‘Am I really going to wear this?’ she thought, before then looking back across at herself in the mirror. ‘I guess no one’s going to see...’ the teen mused, shimmying down her less than sexy panties to then carefully get into the thong.

For a good minute she just stood there staring at her hip where the string was sitting. It certainly matched the dress, but maybe a little too well. It looked like she was not wearing any underwear at all now. On top of that she was not entirely certain she liked the strange sensation of having something jammed deep in her crack.  
‘This is… certainly different.’ she thought, putting on the heeled black pumps she assumed were there to go with the dress. Soon after she put on the wig and began threading her fingers through the fringe until she was able to cover over her blind eye completely, her arched back straightening as she tried to get another good look at herself. She certainly looked like a whole nother person.  
‘I kinda look like a Jessica Rabbit with this wig on.’ Julia mused, pushing her lips together to make a few kissy faces.

With that in mind Julia hummed softly and began rummaging around in her bag, finding her red and black lipsticks she began messing around with them both, attempting to blend them together until they had a nice faded look with the black outlining her lips and the scarlet making them look a little bigger than usual. Not that she felt she needed to make her lips look any more puffier than they usually appeared.  
‘Hmmm.’ she thought, using an autumn brown for her eyeshadow so that she could make her make-up match her hair. ‘Perfect.’ she thought, adding some foundation and powder, as well as mascara to her eyelashes to complete the look.  
“Are y-you done yet?” Rick shouted through. “I-It’s been two hours...” he then added in a slightly quieter voice.  
“Seriously?” Julia questioned, pulling out her phone to have a look at the time. “Oh my god, I didn’t think I’d been at this that long!” she gasped, putting her old clothes in the box and cleaning up the small mess she had made.

Leaving the bathroom Julia paused at Rick’s desk, taking a moment to turn and face where he normally held out his mirror.  
“Well, what do you think?” she asked, trying her best to strike a pose.  
“F-Fuck that took longer than I thought it would.” he grumbled, lolling his mirror out to have a look at her. “Well done, y-you don’t look terrible. Miracle.” Rick then congratulated her after a good minute of silence.  
Not exactly the compliment she would have liked, but ‘not terrible’ was probably the nicest thing she would ever get out of a Rick. Being sent outside Julia stood there with her phone camera on staring at her self, taking a few photos now and again when she thought the lighting was on point.  
‘This is going to blow Rick’s mind.’ she mused, taking another photo while pulling a peace sign before pausing when she heard the door to the exit open.

Turning she found a Rick dressed as a limo driver had come in, that must have been their ride.  
“R-” she began, cutting herself off quickly. “Boss, driver’s here.” she called.  
“I he-heard that!” her boss answered, sounding moderately bemused. “Take her out t-to the car, I need a minute.” he then informed the driver, who was yet to stop staring at her. Following him outside Julia found that he waited on the other side of the car for where the boss was going to climb in, but she did not question this and just opened the door to get in on the other side herself.

Sitting down she found the leather seats were heated, her bum warming up rather quickly.  
“Hhhholy shit.” she groaned, leaning back to get comfy. Closing her eyes she sat there slightly sprawled out, not looking at all lady like as the dress might have first implied. Upon hearing the door on the other side of the car open, however, she was quick to fumble up into a sitting position. Trying not to stare she eagerly waited for Rick to get into the car and sit down beside her, this was the first time she would actually see him without him hiding behind that office chair of his. Slowly, carefully, she lolled her eyes to the side, her head turning slightly to look over at him.

A few seconds later her curious excitement turned to horror, while Rick slowly turned to look at her.  
“What?” he asked, the giant bobble head (that (she assumed) was a caricature of a Rick) staring at her. At least, she thought it was looking at her; the mask had a case of the lazy eyes that made the pupils look off and up towards the sides at an angle, though she supposed it would have looked way more intimidating had they been looking forward.  
“That… is the most terrifying thing… I have ever seen.” she slowly admitted, unable to stop staring at the huge toothy grin it had. Rick, however, said nothing and slowly turned his head to look forward again. 

Quietly she sat there, her brow beginning to sweat as she allowed her thoughts to wander. Why was he wearing that thing? What was he really hiding? Why did it have to smile like that? Was that his real-  
Slowly her eyes began to widen, and for once Rick actually jumped a little when she startled him.  
“Oh my god! That’s not your real head it is?!” she questioned erratically. “I am soooo sorry! Oh my god, I must look like a prick!” she then catastrophised.  
“… This isn’t my real head.” he replied, to which her worried expression dissipated slightly. To tell the truth he had actually been rather surprised to find she was capable of more than just the resting-bored face she typically had.  
“Oh.” she then spoke, turning to look away again awkwardly.

Looking out the window Julia watched where they were going, the blur of lights that once trailed over her face in spots of red, blue, orange and yellow diminishing. She was not entirely sure where they were going but it seemed they had left the city completely now, the dark rows of fields rolling by underneath the flying car as they made their way out into the middle of nowhere.  
“We’re almost there, Boss.” the passenger sitting up front with the driver informed Rick through the small slot.  
“R-Right.” he replied, watching the slot then shut back over. The silence ensued after that, with Julia gently rubbing her bare knees while butterflies churned about in her stomach anxiously. They were in the middle of nowhere and she had no idea where they were going, if something happened she was going to have a party trying to contact her Rick.

Landing the car Rick waited for the driver to open his door for him, whereas Julia had to get out on her own. Stood against the open door the teen looked around, there was nothing out here it seemed. The only thing she could see was a small, crappy looking shack.  
“W-What the fuck is she doing?” Rick questioned, having stopped to see she had not moved any further than what it took to get out and stand. “G-Get over here!” he shouted, though it was obvious she was not entirely confident about the situation, her figure moving out slowly from behind the door to close it over once he shouted at her the second time. When she was finally beside him Rick let out an exasperated mutter and continued towards the shack, with the other two Ricks closing in behind them to watch their backs.

Stopping about a meter from the shack their boss motioned for the guard to get in front and knock on the door, the panel opening up thereafter so that a pair of eyes could look out at them. After what seemed to be minimalist conversation the door opened completely and the Rick that was inside stepped out.  
“H-Hey Boss.” the Rick greeted him roughly, while Rick said nothing, Julia was too busy examining him to say anything herself. He looked incredibly intimidating (even for a Rick); he had crazy gelled hair, a cheetah-print yellow shirt on, a chain necklace with a Morty’s face hung off the bottom (which matched his Morty belt-buckle), dark green-grey trousers and a yellow bandanna around his upper left arm. He even had ear piercings and numerous gold rings on his left hand. Julia thought he looked more like a pimp than a bouncer.  
“For fuck sake...” Rick murmured, having gone inside only to find Julia was yet to follow them inside the dark, foreboding shack.  
“Oi… Boss’ waiting.” the scowling Rick grunted, putting his hand on her back to give her a surprisingly gently shove in the right direction. “Mind the steps.” he then warned her, which had almost been a little too late had she not grabbed the banister and began clinging onto it.  
‘Fucking hell.’ Julia inwardly whined, pulling herself to her senses to go down the stairs and try to catch up to Rick.

At the bottom of the steps Julia found Rick had actually waited for her, but this time he was even less patient than before.  
“If you don’t st-stay close to me this time I’m fu-fucking ditching you.” he muttered, but he did not have to tell her twice as she was right up behind him this time and refusing to get left behind a third time. When he stopped however she ended up walking into the back of him, not hard enough to knock him off balance but enough to irritate the hell out of him.  
“… Too close.” he stated in a dangerous tone of voice which intimidated the other Ricks more than it did her.  
“Sorry.” she apologised, looking elsewhere while he was looking at her. At this rate he almost wished he had not bothered bringing her.

Stopping at the final door Rick stood there with her beside him and the guards behind them as before.  
“Don’t embarrass me.” he warned her quietly, opening the door to walk inside with Julia tailing in behind him since his guards were now even more pressed to keep his temper from escalating by herding her like a sheep. The inside of the room was nothing like what she had expected however, it was a large Victorian looking room with quiet music playing in the background and a group of various looking Ricks stood around chatting.

At the very right side of the room there was a banquette table with all kinds of food on it, from human to alien, and on the very left side was a massive ice statue of the Rick who appeared to be the centre of attention right now.  
“Boss, you made it.” he greeted him in a poncy drawl, taking a moment to look at Julia and then lift his opera glasses up to get a better look at her. “What is shhhheeee doing here?” he asked.  
“Th-This is Julia, Dandy.” he introduced her, while she forced a slight smile. Never in a million years did she think she would meet a fancy looking Rick.  
“I seee.” he replied, lowering his glasses to then completely dismiss her existence and concentrate on her boss. “Well, enjoy yourself, Boss.” he then stated, though he did not look like he was enjoying the party at all himself.

Since the number of people in the room was relatively small she had began to settle down, though she still remained moderately close to her boss as they wandered around chatting to people. By the first hour more Ricks had shown up, some more interesting than others. The only one to really catch her eye was a Rick that looked like a cat, her eyes lighting up every so slightly.  
‘Oh my god, he’s adorable.’ she thought, trying not to stare at him. ‘I wonder if he has a tail...’ she then quietly wondered, unable to really see one. Her wondering was cut short however when someone spoke into her ear.  
“He doesn’t have a spiked d-dick.” the Rick informed her, her eyes widening before her expression turned to disgust.  
“Ew, that is not what I was thinking.” she replied, turning to see it was not her boss but someone else entirely.

This Rick was wearing a pink jacket with a blue shirt underneath, his sunglasses reflecting her face with a blue and pink tint. Slowly he rolled the toothpick in his mouth to the corner of his lip.  
“You’re no Morty, and definitely not a Jerry.” he commented, her expression going back to normal.  
“No.” she confirmed.  
“They call me Miami Rick.” he introduced himself to her, taking her hand to kiss her knuckle. Well, this was a little more like it.  
“Julia.” she greeted him, retrieving her hand. “So, what’s this party for exactly?” she asked, looking around with a glass of white wine in her hand. She was yet to drink from it but she felt a little less outlandish with at least something to hide her mouth behind.  
“To mingle, discuss business ventures.” he explained, to which she nodded a little. A rather vague explanation, but it was better than nothing she supposed.

A little while later they were chatting on less stiff grounds.  
“Then I notice that th-the ray guns safety was on, s-s-so-so I go ‘no blast can penetrate the skin of the mighty Miami Rick’, while my Morty is s-sc-scared shitless at this point.” he continued to tell her, to which she nodded a little.  
“I can totally imagine.” she agreed, taking a small sip from her wine.  
“T-Totally.” he nodded. “And then, of course, the president pu-pulls the trigger… and nothing!” he continued, while she looks rather shocked. “T-To this day he still thinks I’m invulnerable.” Rick then laughed, causing her to smile.  
“Oh, that’s priceless.” she admitted, accepting another drink as she looked around, wondering where the hell her boss had gotten to.  
“So, you’re number two-ing for...?” he asked, having arrived just after she had.  
“Boss Rick, if you can even call it that.” she informed him, his face going a little paler than before.

He seemed less eager now, his eyes darting around as he looked for the infamous Rick.  
“I don’t even know where he went.” Julia admitted, warning him he could look around all he liked he was not about to spot him. “Not that I actually do anything. Even now all I’m doing is standing around wearing this… skimpy outfit and-” Julia continued to quietly complained.  
“L-Looking amazing.” Rick cut her off, feeling a little more confident again now that he knew Rick was at least not in ear shot. “I’m surprised he even treats you like that.” he went on, trying to flatter her.  
Before he could continue to boost her ego, however, her boss reappeared from wherever he had been and within seconds Miami got cold feet and legged it back into the crowd of Ricks.  
‘Geez… these people are all so scared of him.’ she thought, allowing him to come over to her.  
“Long time no see.” she mused, peering up at the giant head. It was still unsettling to look at, but after a few glasses of wine she was less bothered by its appearance.  
“We can leave now.” he informed her, while she just simply pouted a little. She had only just began to really enjoy this party.

Following him out of the building they climbed the stairs and got into the car that was waiting for them outside, sitting down Julia tried her best to ignore the buzzing in her head as she practically melted into the heated seating.  
“I loooove these seats.” she informed him, stilling when Rick tossed something onto her lap. “Hm?” she questioned, looking down at the paperwork. “My contract?” she questioned, while Rick was able to catch her before she went on another paranoid rant.  
“I’m not f-firing you.” he informed her, her widening eyes going back to normal, albeit cautiously. “Your contract was temporary.” Rick then explained.  
“I-… But it said permanent?” she questioned, trying to figure out why he had given these to her.  
“Yeah, but you were only p-pl-placed in my care temporarily.” he explained.  
“I don’t understand?” she questioned, pouting a little as she went back to looking at her contract.

Grunting Rick sat up slightly, unable to find a comfortable position.  
“You can’t work in the main citadel unless you’ve accumulated at least six-hundred hours of service in general.” Rick began to explain to her.  
“Right.” she nodded.  
“From now on you’re g-going to be working as a receptionist for Ground Zero.” he then informed her, though if she had been given some time to read more of the contract she would have seen that for herself.  
“… So you’re not my boss any more?” she asked.  
“No.” he put it simply.  
“Oh...” she bemused, looking sullen about it. Frowning Julia stared at her contract for a good minute. “But I was starting to like working for you.” she sighed.  
“Y-Yeah well that’s not my choice, a-and I don’t think you have one either.” he admitted. 

Finding that they were back at the bar Julia was given a chance to go grab her stuff from Rick’s bathroom before being given a portal ride to the block party, and much to her surprise he had kept to his promise of getting her home at ten-o’clock.  
“I guess this is goodbye.” she surmised, still wearing the dress he said she could keep.  
“Yep.” Rick dismissively confirmed, making her pout even harder. She supposed he was constantly gaining and losing receptionists so this was nothing new to him.  
“Well… bye.” she bid him farewell, looking at the portal.  
“Mhm.” he agreed, closing his door. Sighing Julia made sure she had everything and went through the portal, appearing in her dark bedroom. That was definitely not the way she had wanted to begin her evening celebrating Summer’s birthday.

Wondering if she could just go to bed Julia’s idea was thwarted when Tufts began barking from the corridor, followed by Jerry shouting for Julia to come wish her sister a happy birthday now that she was home.  
‘Okay, Julia… Pull it together.’ she thought to herself, standing on the opposite side of her bedroom door. Upon opening it Tufts was hurtling around her feet and barking, her tail flapping eagerly as she sniffed and licked her shoes.  
“Aw, I missed you to, fuzzle-butt.” she greeted her pet, heading out into the corridor while trying her best to avoid tripping over her.  
“Julia, you arrived just in time for the cake.” Jerry greeted her, turning to look at her before his face dropped.  
Confused Beth looked from Jerry to Julia, her face shifting as well.  
“Uh… you guys okay?” she asked, having become so used to the dress and hair that she had forgotten all about it temporarily.  
“Seven-eleven, Julia… What are you wearing?” Jerry’s mother questioned, having come to visit on her granddaughter’s big day.  
“Oh… hey Gran.” she greeted her, having not quite expected so many family members to have shown up.

From the kitchen Rick had been fiddling with something, his hands dropping the glass to the floor when he saw Julia through the door frame. Coming into the dining room he eyeballed her, causing her to become even more self-conscious about the outfit.  
“Is it that bad?” she asked, playing with the wig a little as she pulled.  
“N-No!” Beth quickly disagreed. “You look lovely, Julia. We… We just didn’t...” she began, trying to find her words.  
“Did you buy that while you were out?” Jerry asked, trying to change the subject.  
“Oh, no; actually my boss gave it to me for the party we went to.” Julia explained, pulling one of the straps back up onto her shoulder.  
“Your… boss bought you that?” her gran asked, her eyes flicking up and down her figure.  
“It was a leaving present I guess?” Julia added, shrugging slightly.  
“I think someone needs to have a talk with you later.” she stated, turning to look at her son expectantly.

Having went back to fiddling with his tablet Jerry made a small humming noise and looked up.  
“What?” he asked, his wife rolling her eyes.  
“I’ll talk to her later, this is supposed to be a day of celebration.” Beth promised, not wanting to make Summer’s big day all about Julia right now.  
“Where is Summer?” the teen asked, looking about.  
“She’s upstairs getting ready.” Beth explained, watching Julia sit down at the table to join them in waiting.  
“I would have thought the party would have started by now.” she mused, trying to steal some chips before getting her hand slapped by the butter-bot. “… Who fixed you.” she asked, her gaze narrowing.  
“I-I did.” Rick replied, sitting down beside her. Apparently he felt more like talking now.  
“Dismantle him.” she grunted.  
“W-Why?” he questioned, letting it butter half a roll for him.  
“You don’t know what he’s like.” Julia fumed, crossing her arms under her chest.

Lowering his monobrow Rick munched on his snack, he knew exactly what he was like; he built him.  
“H-He’s just a talking butter knife, Julia. He p-pr-provides his owner with butter and light conversation.” Rick grumbled, surprised even the most simplistic of his inventions ticked her off.  
“Not this one, this thing’s mental!” she huffed, the small cube-shaped robot turning to look up at her while Rick snorted in disbelief. “He’s defective; he wants everyone to eat butter all of the time, he’s obsessed with buttering things. And if you don’t want to eat, like, forty rounds of buttered toast every hour he throws a major wobbler.” she continued, trying to prove to Rick fixing him was a big mistake. “That’s what caused the accident in the first place.” she finalised.  
“… What accident?” Jerry asked, looking down at the small machine. He had a hard time believing it was that much of a nuisance himself.  
“The accident involving me, the butter-bot, the waste disposal and a fourteen-pound lump hammer!” she answered, frowning at it. It was actually being surprisingly quiet right now.  
“That would e-ex-explain why I found him in the garage wa-waste bin in four-hundred separate pieces.” Rick muttered, giving her a displeased glower.  
“I’m surprised it hasn’t said ‘toasta-toasta-butt-butt’ yet...” she admitted.

Rolling his eyes Rick picked up the butter-bot and began fiddling with the wires in the back, and within seconds it was making little noises.  
“Toasta-toasta-butt-butt! I am butter-bot, your chirpy bread companion.” he started to greet them, turning around to face them once he was back down on the table.  
“Aw, how sweet.” her gran cooed, rather liking it.  
“Would anyone like anything buttered?” he asked, to which Julia frowned.  
“No.” Rick replied calmly, the butter-bot then moving to go look at Julia.  
“No.” she stated firmly before he could even ask. “I don’t want any butter from you; not now, not ever.” she added.  
“How about some jam?” he then offered.  
“No, no jam either!” Julia snapped. “I don’t want any marmalade either, or marmite, or tuna; no mayo, no pate, no chopped liver, no clotted cream; and definitely no nutter butter!” she listed off, trying to think of anything else he might possibly ask to smear on a piece of bread for her.  
“Ahhh, so you’re a chocolate girl.” he replied straight after, causing her tense up and scowl.

Growling Julia turned to look at Rick, her hand lifting in the direction of the butter-bot.  
“See! You see what he’s like!?” she fumed. “He winds me up, Rick! There’s no reasoning with him.” she argued.  
“C-Ch-Christ, Julia.” Rick grumbled, not understanding why she was being so over dramatic about it. “Butter-bot, as inventor to in-invention; now-now you listen here,” he began, starting to baby talk it to wind up Julia even more. “you will not offer anyone in this family any smear-able br-bread products unless they ask you first.” he warned the butter-bot.  
“Can I ask just one question?” he requested, while Julia continued to burn holes into the side of Rick’s head.  
“Y-Yeah.” Rick replied, finishing off his slice of bread.  
“Would you like more butter?” he asked, gaining Julia’s attention again.  
“D-Did you not hear what I just said?” Rick asked, his monobrow crinkling slightly.  
“Yes, but I thought you might have changed your mind in the mean time.” the robot explained cheerfully.

Staring at him for a moment Rick opened his mouth to speak, only for Julia to un-cup her face from out of her hand and start complaining again.  
“You see?! You see what he’s like?” she questioned, hoping Rick could actually see the error of his ways this time.  
“We’ve not ch-changed our minds.” the cyan haired man informed him firmly.  
“No butter!” Julia tacked on, at her wits end now.  
“But I’m a butter-bot, it is my raison d'être; I butter, therefore I am.” he whined.  
“You see why the accident happened now?” Julia questioned, pouting.  
“That was no accident; that was first degree butter-bot-icide!” he shot back, to which she narrowed her gaze and took off her shoe, ready to smash him with it.

She was, however, stopped when her gran picked him up off of the table.  
“Julia! Don’t kill him, he’s just doing what he was made to do.” she told her off, while Julia slowly lowered her heel and then grumbled as she moved on her chair to put it back on her foot. No sooner had she rescued the butter-bot had Summer then come down from her bedroom, all dolled up and ready for her sweet eighteenth.  
“F-Finally.” Rick grumbled, rolling his eyes.  
“Aww, get the camera, quick!” Beth beckoned, shoving Jerry to get off of his tablet and take photographs of their daughter’s big day.

Cutting the cake, taking a few family photos, and handing out presents the family had a little private party for the first hour before going outside to join everyone else for the street party. Mingling for the first hour Julia headed into the garage thereafter to get a moments respite from the loud music, numerous drunk Beths and Mortys, and all the Ricks that had decided to crash the party from over in the citadel.  
‘This party is all over the place.’ the teen thought, standing with a can of beer in one hand and her other hand resting on the workbench cluttered with junk.  
Through the garage door she could hear the party going wild, while she just mumbled quietly to herself. They sure were not this excited when it was her birthday a few weeks back, in fact they had failed to congratulate or so much as mention Julia at all today.

Narrowing her gaze Julia threw the empty can into the waste bin Rick had thrown everything at, but not into, and reached to open another can of beer. Halfway through her fourth can Julia had moved to sit in the space cruiser, her body sprawled out from as she lay with the passenger seat tilted back.  
“I wish you'd be as dirty as my car, I could be your ride tonight. I may not be worthy of your heart, but I'll make you feel alright.” Julia slurred, ticking her head from side to side in a drunken stupor. “So c'mon into the night, follow- follow the lights. So let go of wrong and right, cause who wants- who wants- who wants to dance all night?” she continued, taking another swig. “Yeah, I'm a dirty car. C'mon now, crank that beat, turn up the music! First time in the front seat just while we're cruising.” the brunette continued, her eyes closed as she tried to take another chug from her drink.

Finding it was empty Julia opened her eyes and shook the back from left to right and then up and down after turning it upside down.  
“Urghh.” she groaned, tossing it behind herself to join the many other cans and bottles behind her. Finding she was out of drinks Julia sat up and looked at her reflection in the glass.  
‘Oh shit...’ she thought to herself. ‘I gotta walk, gotta sober up enough to get to the kitchen.’ she realised, able to feel her legs tingling weakly. ‘And sober! And sober!’ she began to chant, her eye widening for a few seconds each time before she went back to looking groggy. ‘C’mon you drunken piece of shit, sober up!’ she protested, feeling a little more awake. ‘Okay.’ Julia then thought, opening the car door only to fall out and onto her face with a heavy thud.

Groaning she lay there for a moment, her eye crinkled shut as she rolled off onto her side. Opening her eye she looked out across the garage floor and underneath the space cruiser, her vision rising to look up at something sitting underneath the ship when it caught her attention.  
‘Aw, a hidden portal gun. I had hoped it was a bottle of liquor...’ Julia internally whined. ‘Wait… A portal gun could get me many bottles of liquor.’ she then realised, starting to crawl under the cruiser to get to the gun.

Coming through the portal with a bottle of vodka in one hand Julia wobbled slightly on the footpath just outside her house, her eyes squinting in the morning light.  
‘Whoa, is it nearly daylight outside?’ she questioned, tilting her head a little to see the light only to stumble and catch herself before she fell over. ‘Suddenly daylight...’ she continued, staggering to the door. Pushing it open the teen noted the strange silence for a moment as she wandered through the surprisingly clean hallway into the living room to figure out where the party had gone.  
“Julia’s back!” Summer shouted, clambering up and swinging her legs off of the arm rest to put her phone away.  
“Julia!” Jerry cheered, pulling his very drunk daughter into a tight hug.  
“W-Where’s the party? I went and got more vodka.” she explained, holding up the empty bottle of vodka.

Frowning Beth took the empty bottle off of her as Rick and Morty entered the room.  
“The party finished ages ago.” she informed her, clearly pissed off.  
“I was only gone an hour.” Julia stated, unable to remember anything.  
“You were gone for three days!” Summer chimed in, gaining her attention.  
“… Three days?” Julia asked, frowning as best she could.  
“We’ve been watching you through the int-interdi-dimensional television.” Rick uttered, turning on the TV as it continued to remain on the citadel news channel.  
“Really? What was I doing for all this time?” she asked, growing a little concerned when they did not bother to change the channel off of the news station.  
“Citadel morning news; news brought to you in the morning. Pretty self ex-explanatory.” the news anchor began, while the brunette watched everyone turn to look at the presentor.

Slowly, very slowly, Julia sat down.  
‘Oh fuuuuck, what did I do for the last three days?’ she questioned, staring at the screen awkwardly.  
“Good morning, I’m Rick D716-B.”  
“And I’m Rick D716.”  
“Coming up; is drinking too much Flurbo juice bad for you?”  
“And have the union for Jerrys everywhere finally won their vote for equal work rights? The answer may not surprise you… It’s no. They’re Jerrys.”

Frowning Jerry grumbled about not the union losing the vote, his arms crossing over in irritation.  
“Our biggest story today; Julia Smith!” the Ricks then began, entering their major segment.  
‘Oh… fuck me.’ Julia thought, covering her one good eye with the palm of her hand.  
“Today Julia Smith was seen finally arriving home from a three day binge of alcohol, partying and hostile Galactic Federation beat downs!” D716 informed her.  
“Yep, you saw it all here folks! Fro-From her gunning down an entire Federation base on the planet Yumerog, with the aid of the liberated locals, to her blo-blowing up an entire Galactic Federation space station in dimension Y376-B.” D716-B tagged on in more depth.  
“What the hell, seriously?” she asked, starting to get a migraine.  
“Ama-Amazing stuff.”  


Still Julia’s hand was covering her eye.  
“I don’t remember any of that.” she admitted, lifting her head when she heard the distinct sci-fi noises of a portal opening. Looking up she pulled a face as Commander Rick stopped with his hands behind his back. Behind him was a Jerry with an ascot around his neck, his uniform slightly more basic in appearance.  
“Julia.” Rick greeted broodingly her, her expression flattening a little.  
‘Fuuuuck.’ she groaned quietly.


End file.
